At the beginning of July, criminal hackers were the systems of a laboratory with which the population screening works together. Due to the data breach at Laboratory Clinical Diagnostics, the personal data and medical information of at least 485,000 women are on the street. This also concerns data from patients from the Amphia Hospital in Breda. Experts warn about scams: the data can now be used to inform people with credible phishing emails, text messages or phone calls. But how do you recognize a fake message and what can you do about it?
The hack was claimed by the Hackers group Nova, which gained access to the systems of the Laboratory in Rijswijk at the beginning of July. More than hundreds of gigabytes of data would have been stolen. This concerns test results and names of patients who have had research done and doctors from the past three years. The data from patients from the Amphia Hospital in Breda have also been captured and ended up on the Dark Web, a difficult part of the internet.
Peter Lahousse van Cybercrimeinfo And the police have bad news for the victims of the data breach. “You can’t trust anything anymore. You now have to be super argwan. With everything you now receive via mail, text and telephone.”
If you receive a suspicious e -mail, it is best to pay attention to the following:
- Check the full e-mail address. The sender often seems reliable, but it is not. For example, there is sometimes a number instead of a letter in an e-mail address or a strange sign. That is not part of that. Please note: nowadays hackers even manage to use a real e-mail address. So always look beyond the sender alone and never click on the left. If you have any doubts about the mail, search for the e-mail address that the organization uses and send an email to confirm the authenticity of the mail.
- Look at the personal salutation. Real organizations use your personal name. If you are registered as ‘best customer’ or ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, this can be a sign that something is wrong.
- Pressure, almost or threat. Cyber criminals respond to your emotions. Often sentences such as ‘your account are blocked’, ‘last warning’ or ‘Call/click to confirm your data’. When an email puts pressure on you, it is usually a trick to try to inform you.
- Strange links in the mail. Do you see a crazy internet address when you float with your mouse over a link (without clicking)? Then it is not wise to click on that. If you want to know for sure if the address is correct, you can check this via tools if Scam check.
- Language use or layout is incorrect. Fake emails are becoming more and more professional, but usually contain incorrect formulations, language errors or graphic errors. Contact the organization if you don’t trust it.
According to Lahousse, the consequences of the hack at Laboratory Clinical Diagnostics are not temporary. “A diagnosis such as cervical cancer can still be used against you years later.” Criminals can blackmail you or sell your sensitive information on the Dark Web. “You have to realize continuously: your data is now on the street. You can suffer from it all your life.”
“Only by reporting collectively can spam filters eventually block them.”
Lahousse advises everyone, but the extra people, if they receive a suspicious e -mail, to report it immediately as spam. “These reports are collected behind the scenes. Only by reporting collectively can spam filters eventually block them.” Nowadays, according to Lahousse, criminals also create many new emails. This makes it important to be extra alert.
What if you know that your data is involved in a data breach?
People who already know for sure that their data have been abused can report to the Central Meldpunt Identity Fraud and report it to the police.
If you know that you are a victim of a data breach, it is wise to change your password and set two -factor authentication.
In addition, never give your login details via e-mail and not by telephone. If organizations ask you to confirm personal information, always check this extra.
It is emphasized by Lahousse that the criminals are increasingly sophisticated. “They put you under pressure, create fear or lure with greed. If you are already stressed or check your mail quickly, click before you know it. And then you just give your data away.”
The best thing you can do is always double check and if in doubt contact the organization of whom you received the message.
